Friday, January 02, 2015

Cypriot EEZ: Cyprus warns Turkey against any new energy moves

Cyprus
warned Turkey Friday that if it re-entered the exclusive economic zone
where Nicosia has licensed exploratory drilling there would be no chance
of resuming stalled UN-brokered peace talks. Government
spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said any such a move would be a
"worrying development" and would only "validate the reason for not
returning to the talks". Last October, a Turkish ship
encroached on Cyprus's EEZ off its south coast, after Ankara had given
notice that a Turkish seismic vessel would carry out a survey in the
same area where Italian-Korean energy consortium ENI-Kogas is operating.

In response, Cyprus suspended its participation in UN-led peace talks launched in February.

Warning against another incident, Christodoulides told the Cyprus News
Agency on Friday: "While knowing such an action would not allow for
talks to resume, it will unfortunately send the international community a
negative message regarding the possibility of a resumption of talks."

Turkish Cypriot media reports say that Turkey is ready to issue a new
maritime notice for its survey ship Barbaros from January 5.

Nicosia is unhappy that Ankara is determined to search for oil and gas
in the same region where it has already licensed exploratory drillings.

Turkey opposes the government's exploitation of offshore energy
reserves before a deal is reached to solve the decades-long division of
the east Mediterranean island.

Turkish troops invaded and
occupied the northern third of Cyprus in 1974 in response to an
Athens-engineered coup aimed at uniting it with Greece.

ENI-Kogas began drilling off Cyprus for possible gas in September in a second block to undergo exploratory tests.

It found no evidence of gas reserves in its first test drill and is preparing to try again over the next three months.

In 2011, US firm Noble Energy made the first find in the Aphrodite
field, which is estimated to contain 102 billion to 170 billion cubic
metres (3.6 trillion to six trillion cubic feet) of gas.AFP - http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/119338.aspx2/1/15---

EL KAOS UT

The UN has imposed a 2013 deadline for the submission of scientific claims to the Arctic seabed. It is the precursor to a resource boom which would see Canada, the US, Russia, Norway and Greenland all attempt to exploit the region's resources.